Previously on Can we start over?
"Wow looks like you've got a new admirer Rosie"
" My dad is the sheriff and I'm his daughter I've got some pull"
" her blood is different that any human I've smelled before... it's like a drug"
" A guy who fights toe to toe with a grizzly bear makes a much better friend of course !"
The rest of the week passed exactly as Bella suspected, Edward was gone, out for whatever reason his parents conjured up, but she knew he was probably trying to control himself around her scent, every night she ensured her window was locked securely.
Throughout the week she went through her magic books to find a protection spell she could use to envelope the house. She didn't want to put her well being up to chance nor give Edward the opportunity to get through her window, however that in itself presented a new set of problems, The Cullens would know she's was not in fact human, thus finding her dangerous or attempt to investigate her gathering more attention than she needed this soon. So the protection spell idea went out of the window, she wondered whether she could persuade her dad to cut off the tree in the backyard to make it more difficult for him to enter her bedroom but that would not stop him ultimately.
She sighed for the fourth time in a minute. She was sitting at their lunch table, with her group of friends who seemed to having their own conversations and completely ignoring her dilemma.
"Okay Bella that's the fourth time you sighed" said Mike looking to his new friend, who looked tired. " what gives? Are you still wondering what you did to run Cullen out of town?" He smirked.
Bella huffed and put her head on the table, giving the boy a mock glare " oh please" she scoffed "Edward Cullen is the very last thing in my mind if at all" which was a lie , he was the source of her current dilemma but Mike didn't need to know that "but I mean this isn't the first time you brought him up.." she grinned with a mischievous glint in her eye turning it around on him.
"are you trying to tell us something?" She asked suggestively, most of the chatter at the table now stopped and focused on their conversation.
Mike flushed red and spluttered for a response, before he could form a coherent sentence her phone vibrated in her pocket
'Mathew Johnson calling' she saw light up on her screen, she wondered why the man would call her during school hours.
"Mike hold that thought" she said standing up, and leaving the cafeteria with her phone to her ear.
"Matt" she answered, inhaling the fresh air that smelled of fresh rain.
"Bella" he replied, his voice sounded tense and strained she wondered what could be wrong. She stepped closer to the outside picnic tables that were wet deciding to stand rather that wet her ass.
"Yes what happened? You sound tense?"she questioned, she caught the curious gaze of the Cullens,before turning away.
"There's been some fraudulent activity identified" he paused rubbing his forehead tiredly "I've emailed you the ledgers from the one company, it'll help if you go through them as quick as you can."
She sighed " I see, the same man you were suspicious about before right?" She asked knowingly, he had told her that books didn't add up and that there was someone stealing from one of the companies she was a major investor in.
"Yeah... it's Alex, I've hired some private investigators they were discreet and noticed the influx of money his been receiving into off shore accounts. This has been happening for one or two years" he said angrily.
"Okay, I'll go through the documents when I get back from school. I'll send you my findings with enough evidence to sue and pull all his assets" she said evenly, this was always going to be a common thing. Human beings by nature are greedy, and this Alex just proved it.
"Alright thanks I know you said you wanted to be in the loop so that's why I called" he paused " how is school though any new activity? " he questioned discreetly.. she told him about the vampires in forks, not that she met them before but that she noticed them and one of them seemed to have an issue with her blood. Not a lie but not the entire truth anyway. She kept the time traveling information to herself no need to give the man more reason to worry.
Bella caught Rosalie's eye and smiled, " No...nothing yet, just boring old school.." she chuckled.
" I see well keep me posted and be safe, I worry" he chuckled
"Yeah yeah, maybe because you want to set me up with your daughter" she huffed
"Well there's that and she's a lovely girl" Bella laughed
"I know Bree is a lovely girl but she's also 15 Matthew you're basically pimping out your daughter"
"Oh is that what I was doing?" He questioned sounding genuinely surprised.
"Yes" she deadpanned
"Then never mind ...never mention it to her or the wife, she'll have my goods" he said and Bella grimaced at the mental picture it provided her.
"No worries, I'll talk to you later"
"Bye" he said and ended the call, Bella sighed and laughed softly at her friend, he was in his mid 30's but often still acted like a teenager. His wife was a joy, they were high school sweethearts, fell in love young and had a child even younger.
Bella was about to head inside when she heard footsteps from behind her, she smelled them before she saw them. She got candy cotton scent coming from Alice and a spicy, mature scent from Rosalie, with faint hints of cinnamon.She nearly moaned at the smell but composed herself and turned to face her two visitors.
She gazed at the pixie who was basically vibrating with energy while her sister rolled her eyes at her sister and looked disinterested.
"Hello"
"Hi I'm Alice Cullen, Edwards sister but I'm sure you already know all about my family" she said quickly.
"I might've heard yes, though I don't really pay attention to the gossip mill running in these halls" she said motioning to the school. " is your brother alright? He's been out of school for a while now?" She added feigning concern.
Alice waved off her concern " he's fine just had a bug" she nodded to herself and heard a throat being cleared " oh how rude of me, this is my sister Rosalie Hale she's a senior" she said point to Rose who now looked everywhere but Bella.
"I know" Bella said to Alice before holding her hand out to shake Rosalie's. Rose sighed inwardly and held out her hand , but what the human girl did shocked her.Bella brought her hand up to her mouth and kissed it softly.She ignored the flickers of electricity she felt when her lips touched her hand.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Hale, I'm sure you've heard but I'm Isabella Swan" she said dropping the hand of the vampire who seemed to be in shock at her boldness.
'Go big or go home' her mind encouraged.
Alice giggled, at her sister nudging her softly trying to bring her out of her shock endured state.
"Anyway, we just wanted to know whether it would be possible to borrow your notes to help our brother catch up?" Asked Alice, trying time catch Bella's gaze who seemed to be transfixed on her sister.
"Bella ?" She said for the second time.
"what? Oh yeah that's fine, you'll have to wait after class though" she said finally tearing her gaze away from the blonde goddess before her. She was the same height as Rosalie or rather Rosalie was the same height as her currently because of the heels she wore.
"Fantastic, we'll see you later Bella thanks" she chimed dragging away her sister who seemed to stop breathing entirely.
"Rose you okay?" She asked when they were away from Bella
Rose for her part was still stuck on the fact that the human kissed her hand, never mind the sparks of electricity she felt when her lips touched her ice cold skin but the girl didn't even flinch.
"She kissed my hand" she said after a while
"She did"
"And called me Miss Hale"
"She did"
"What the fuck" she breathed out looking at her pixie sister who seemed amused at her confusion.
"Emmet was right you do have a new admirer" she chuckled leading them back to their table
" what the fuck" she repeated trying to gather her thoughts, she wasn't someone who was new to flirting, not even when both men and women vied for her attention, it came with being a vampire, the allure. Even so when she was a human she often had men lining up to court her but never was she so affected like she was now, and worse a human, had her frozen.. she shook away the fog that to laid claim to her mind.
"I'm going to class" she said leaving her siblings, watching her her back as she left through the cafeteria doors barely keeping their human facade.
Bella headed to class after her little encounter with the Cullens, she felt the sparks when she kissed Rosalie's hand and it took all of her self control to keep herself from giving herself away. For now this was good, keep playing the human until things fell into place. She wasn't going to lead Edward on nor was she going to play his game either. She already knew they were vampires so she didn't feel the need to question him, but not questioning him would also raise suspicions .
'Arrrgh time travel is so complicated' her mind reminded her. She knew that she couldn't change every event, especially because each had its own set of consequences, so she could stick to her original game plan which was allow herself to be nearly hit by a van thus being saved by Edward, and this lead to the big reveal or she could give nothing away and say she heard the stories while growing up when she spent her summers with her dad, especially since his best friend lived in La Push. The second one was definitely the best choice in terms of safety but she couldn't shake the feeling that if it wasn't her nearly being crushed by Tyler's van it would be someone else. That wasn't something she could keep on her conscience, being responsible for the loss of an innocent life was not on her to do list.
She cringed and decided/ or not decided to follow the most successful path.She didn't make any concrete decisions, to keep herself away from Alice's gift which would no doubt pick up on anything she decided.
A/N short chapter
Rosalie is confused by her reaction to Bella? Could it be her finally understanding what's happening or will she deny it because Bella's a human ?
Anyway I hope y'all enjoy this one